Watch Sturgill Simpson’s Fiery ‘Fastest Horse in Town’ in Brooklyn
Sturgill Simpson played an intimate show at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 6th, part of a brief small-venue tour he’s leading as a benefit for the Special Forces Foundation. During the show, Simpson played his newly released LP Sound & Fury start to finish, including a scorching 10-minute rendition of its closing track “Fastest Horse in Town.”
From its opening squall of feedback, the performance is all about Simpson’s guitar heroics as well as the interplay of his small-but-mighty backing band. With a sunburst Les Paul slung around his shoulders, Simpson barks and croons his way through his verses, then takes time for extended solos that have him careening from sustained note bends to frenetic runs up and down the fretboard. With the crowd’s excitement growing in intensity at every turn, Simpson pushes his band to a thrilling, almost abrupt ending right as the song seems to be peaking.
Sound & Fury, Simpson’s fourth solo album, was released September 27th in conjunction with an anime film of the same name exclusively on Netflix. He’s also planning to take the Sound & Fury franchise a step further, announcing a new graphic novel that will be written in conjunction with Jason Aaron for Z2 Comics. The 144-page book will be released September 14th, 2020.
Simpson has a handful of small venue dates left for his tour benefiting Special Forces Foundation, including an October 8th show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Following that, he’ll take a breather until January, when he launches an extensive European tour in Copenhagen, Denmark.